AMD Zen 2 (Ryzen 3000) - *** NO COMPETITOR HINTING ***

[Troezar]

The question wasn't really targeted at you, just a general observation tbh.

With all of the plastic and RGB nonsense that you are buying if you actually break it down, there is not much difference other than power delivery, and the PCB quality, and that would certainly not add 100% extra cost from £150 to £300. Obviously features add cost, but the only extra features you see added are more USB ports and 10GBe or 2.5GBe etc. nothing that cannot be expanded with cards or cables really.

$399 for a non HEDT board in my opinion is a waste, it is pure milking by the board manufacturers, and when you are someone like me who regularly deals with the stupidly priced Asus workstation boards, it is hard to fathom why they are doing it. I actually feel bad for those who think they are getting 'good value' with these products.

I agree mostly, too much bling and the further up the stack you go the less value you get. Given the new tech though, PCIE 4.0, the potential to drop a 16C in and very fast NVME it seems prudent to get a higher end board if you intend to make it last a few years. I wouldn't bother if I was one of those who upgrade every couple of years.

Personally I'm looking for a higher quality pcb/VRM, 3x m.2., front panel USB C. Faster networking option would be nice but not essential. The downside is to get some or all of those you have to also buy a load of useless marketing guff. I'd like X399 boards with AM4 processors. Lots of options and IO but without the huge cost of the CPU.

Tl;dr not everyone thinks the higher end boards are good value but are just forced to buy unwanted features to get the ones they actually want (I mean all this in general terms not just me personally)

 

[Bluntwrapped]

Really hope the ASUS Strix ITX is cheaper than those linked above. Was thinking I’d go with one for a living room build. May need to look at something else if it carries a silly price tag.

 

[Bluntwrapped]

On another note, I wonder how many blocks EK have planned for x570 series chipsets. Would be kinda nice to remove the stock heatsink and fan and include the chipset in a custom loop.

 

[Mercutio]

Only thing that worries me is Asus were the only ones to get PBO REALLY correct last time around (and then only on the CH6).
I'm not coughing up even $359 for the CROSSHAIR VIII HERO if I can help it buuuut... I do worry slightly.

The difference from CH8 to formula is utterly pointless, at that point, wait for the EK monoblock that'll do it better, tidier and with less flow reduction. Probably my route with how things are going currently.
I'll skip ASUS completely if the taichi or others have PBO properly sorted.

 

[Grim5]

They're kinda slow on that front - they're still release new blocks for z390 boards..

 

[Mercutio]

I can wait probably won't need to seriously tax VRMs until 3950X in Sept. The air cooled parts of my rig are on point (200mm intake sat ~3mm from VRM area ) so it'll be ok for a while... one day though

At least 2nd to highest notch on LLC so I push volts (more) safely and properly stretch a well cooled 16c

 

[Grim5]

That ASUS prices are retarded

$700 for a board and it's not even the Extreme

 

[Mercutio]

Asus seem to have gone full apple (with the usual clueless fanboys following too).
FRACTIONALLY better hardware in some cases with excessively more marketting getting folks buying their stuff over legitimately better kit.
At the same time - about the worst after sales in the business. It makes zero sense to legitimise their business practices but everyone seems to be jumping on board.

Had a dude I know sold a titan X pascal that would whup every 1080ti it came up against (needed a 2100mhz cored 1080ti to beat it) for a crappy Asus Rog 1080ti cos it was "better".

If ANY of the other mobo makers get the performance bits of the bios sorted I'm totally up for ignoring that Asus exist.

 

[SiDeards73]

Im thinking the Asrock Taichi may be the goto Mobo for x570 as it has a good feature set, and should come in at a reasonable price, the only concerning factors are BIOS and the looks, its not everyones taste.

 

[Mercutio]

Taichi would be my go-to at the minute. They didn't have the best luck with bios updates last time around but yeah... I reckon they might be worth a punt. Was one of the other boards to see a monoblock too

 

[humbug]

Im thinking the Asrock Taichi may be the goto Mobo for x570 as it has a good feature set, and should come in at a reasonable price, the only concerning factors are BIOS and the looks, its not everyones taste.

This, I have one, the board is very good for its money, more features than any other board in its price range, second only to the Tomahawk with its VRMs, so very good, its fan headers can be set to monitor and act according to the CPU temps which is unusual on a sub £100 board and a must if you want a quiet case because monitoring the ambient temps for the case fans just doesn't work.

But the BIOS while very comprehensive is a mess.

 

[Mercutio]

Humbug, did Asrock get PBO config properly sorted?

"properly" as in you turn on PBO and it defaults to level 3.
Level 2 needs GOOD cooling
Level 1 needs EXCELLENT cooling

I wasn't aware of much beyond CH6 that got it right.

 

[gavinh87]

This, I have one, the board is very good for its money, more features than any other board in its price range, second only to the Tomahawk with its VRMs, so very good, its fan headers can be set to monitor and act according to the CPU temps which is unusual on a sub £100 board and a must if you want a quiet case because monitoring the ambient temps for the case fans just doesn't work.

But the BIOS while very comprehensive is a mess.

Taichi now going for £100? Where!?

 

[Kashinoda]

Sure but in that analogy the Fiesta can only do 20mph, has three wheels and runs on cooking oil only.

Meanwhile if you want a car that has four wheels, can at least do 50mph and can be filled at your local petrol station, then you're paying double what you had to last year.

The bottom end of these ranges is going to be bargain basement trash. For £150+. Good luck getting even calc.exe to run on one of those.

 

[humbug]

Humbug, did Asrock get PBO config properly sorted?

"properly" as in you turn on PBO and it defaults to level 3.
Level 2 needs GOOD cooling
Level 1 needs EXCELLENT cooling

I wasn't aware of much beyond CH6 that got it right.

Mine doesn't have PBO, as per @gavinh87 confusion i should have been more clear, check my sig.

 

[DragonQ]

Options If I upgrade next in 2025 I'll need all the features I may use on a board now. Better components, build quality, ease of overclocking. I've never cheaped out on motherboards, not the most expensive either, and never had an issue.

I don't get why people don't invest in the heart of their system. Ties everything else together, if you have a high end CPU and GPU it makes sense to balance out the rest of the system

I did invest in the heart of my system last time around, but that was still only £230ish. Hopefully there are some solid boards for around that much this time around too!

 

[Journey]

Anyone on a budget and doesn't give a monkeys about PCI-E 4.0 will end up with a margin of error experience by going with something like an MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC (£115), even if using a decent cooler to maximise the AMD XFR/PB on the 3700X/3800X or below, even with the 3900X I'd imagine won't be too far behind a more expensive X570/X470 board.

Good quality X370/X470/B450 boards are going to be fetching a premium price both new and second hand soon, and anyone with half a brain will understand that even the cheap X570 boards, are built to be able to run all of the SKU's from 4-16 cores within specification.

 

[Mercutio]

Yeah, past replying to the blinkered folks/trolls on the "OMG BUT THE MOTHERBOARDS ARE SO EXPENSIVE!" type rants.

Sure... so... lets ignore a key selling feature in that you DON'T get fleeced for a new motherboard every generation and try and draw parity.

3900X+X470+3200mhz micron = 95% of the way to 3900X+X570+good b-die for about £200 less.

I guess we'll have to go the usual rounds of goalpost moving and specific pointless arguments before it's all sorted?

 

[hudson86]

Humbug, did Asrock get PBO config properly sorted?

"properly" as in you turn on PBO and it defaults to level 3.
Level 2 needs GOOD cooling
Level 1 needs EXCELLENT cooling

I wasn't aware of much beyond CH6 that got it right.

Latest Bios on the X470 Taichi (3.43) allows you to finally manually set the Scalar level. Thanks Btw , didnt know it was on Level 3 by default on previous bios.

 

[Nghtmare]

Anyone on a budget and doesn't give a monkeys about PCI-E 4.0 will end up with a margin of error experience by going with something like an MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC (£115), even if using a decent cooler to maximise the AMD XFR/PB on the 3700X/3800X or below, even with the 3900X I'd imagine won't be too far behind a more expensive X570/X470 board.

Good quality X370/X470/B450 boards are going to be fetching a premium price both new and second hand soon, and anyone with half a brain will understand that even the cheap X570 boards, are built to be able to run all of the SKU's from 4-16 cores within specification.

I am really tempted to buy a CH7 Hero since I am not going to change my 1080ti for another year or 2.